Ariella Furman had a hard time connecting with the LGBT community when she relocated from New York to Pittsburgh, Pa., several years ago. There are fewer bars aimed at lesbian women than at gay men, she says. Anyway, she tends to prefer structured events to spontaneous bar gatherings.
In response, Furman launched a monthly party for LGBT women in the area. The mailing list ballooned to 4,000 members, with hundreds of women turning up every month and local bars vying to host the events.
Next, Furman hunted for a dating site aimed at gay women, in the vein of Grindr, a dating app catered toward gay men. She didn't find one that matched her vision.
"The attempts that were out there were very focused on hookups," she tells Mashable. "Women tend to look for relationships."
So she created her own.
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Furman's Wing Ma'am app debuted on the iTunes Store Jan. 23, after a brief demo run that made it available online. According to Furman, the app grew to 8,000 users during its beta period alone.
Like Brenda, a dating app for lesbians that has been compared to Grindr, and Dattch, a successful UK-based app not yet available in the U.S., Wing Ma'am users can browse profiles by geographical location. Unlike these apps, however, Wing Ma'am also has a social component, allowing a user to create or scroll through events in her city. RSVPs display on her profile.

Wing Ma'am allows users to browse LGBT events in their area.
The idea, Furman says, is to help LGBT women find friends as well as partners, to form a tighter-knit community through meetups.
"One girl wanted to see if anybody would go to Lady Gaga with her, one girl had an open-mic poetry night, one girl had a cocktail night," Furman says. "It's very varied."
The app resembles HowAboutWe, a dating site that connects users around quality dates and experiences. Similarly, Wing Ma'am couples are welcome to create and browse events, too. Along with user-generated listings, Furman and her two-person marketing team add events to the app when they can.
Right now, Wing Ma'am sees its largest user pool in major cities like Boston and New York.
Women in the LGBT community have already begun responding to the app. Arielle Scarcella, a Brooklyn-based YouTube user promoted the app in her video, "10 Mistakes All Lesbians Make." She says she appreciates that the app focuses on more than just hooking up.
And Kayleigh Blanchette, located in Pittsburgh, likes the app's social component, since she already has a partner. "I moved here a little less than a month ago, so I'm using it to make friends and meet people in the community, she says. "I think the biggest thing is getting the community together and building solidarity beyond the bar scene."
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